Marriott Harrison emerges as suitor for McClure’s London corporate partners

City firm Marriott Harrison is in talks with a team of London corporate partners at McClure Naismith as more firms emerge as possible homes for lawyers at the beleaguered Scottish outfit.

There are currently 13 corporate focused partners at McClure, of which seven are based in London. Led by the firm’s executive chair, Robin Shannon, it is not clear how many of McClure’s corporate team will officially move to Marriott Harrison as talks are still ongoing.

Legal Business understands that some of the firm’s property team are also in talks with Burness Paull, while other Scottish firms are also talking to partners including Maclay Murray & Spens (MMS).

Last week it emerged McClure, one of Scotland’s oldest commercial legal practices, was seeking a white knight merger after finding it lacked the scale ‘needed to compete’ in the market according to its chair, Shannon. McClure approached a number of firms earlier this year, including national firm Bond Dickinson for a potential merger.

Shannon added that the firm’s 26 partners were ‘looking to take as much of the firm to one destination as we can’ but, according to The Sunday Herald, would not rule out the possibility that the business could be broken up.

On the departures, a spokesperson for McClure would not comment. MMS said: ‘We keep in contact with others in the market from time to time, as you might expect, but clearly it wouldn’t be appropriate to pass comment on other firms.’